Ways to bring an outside feel inside your home

Interior design for one’s home is a personal preference. Some people prefer minimalism, others prefer modernity. And then there are those people who prefer to bring nature and the outdoors into their homes.

But, as with everything, there is a right and wrong way to do it. Here are a few of the right ways to incorporate an outside-in look.

Green walls

If you have a bare and open wall space in your house that you have no idea what to do with, why not consider installing your own living, or green wall? It’s a unique and neat way of placing your garden onto your walls and it’s one way to clear the air (by producing oxygen, not sorting out family feuds). Bring colour and calm into any room through a green wall and, if you’re into the organic life, plant your fruits and vegetables on a vertical living wall in the kitchen.

Another way to achieve an earthy feel is by making use of natural materials wherever possible. Not only will they look beautiful, but they’re extremely durable, eco-friendly and low maintenance.

Wood: Wooden furniture, from tables to chairs or headboards to floors, are a great way to accent nature in a room. Even something as simple as gum/eucalyptus/latte wooden poles to hang along the walls or ceilings will work to decorate an area.

Stones: Stone cladding is a popular indoor design trend that works well in kitchen island designs. Cobblestones are also the perfect natural material for walls or one feature wall in a room. They are also a great material to use in bathrooms as they don’t absorb moisture and are, therefore, not prone to water damage.

Shells, pebbles, crystals, sand and fruits: These can all be used as decorative elements around the house as subtle hints to nature.

Glass windows and skylights

The larger your glass windows, the better. Not only are you bringing in natural lighting into the room, but you’re opening your house up to the nature that is outside. If you have a beautiful outdoor garden that you’re super proud of, there’s no reason you can’t enjoy it from the inside.

Keeping your windows open also brings in the breeze and sounds of birds and nature in general. More than aesthetic, it will increase your productivity and help keep your eyes and mind wide open to your surroundings.

If you don’t have the best of outdoor areas around your house, there’s still hope for you. Putting in skylights, especially in bedrooms and hallways, will also be able to bring in that natural lighting and mood-boosting vitamin D.

Indoor courtyard

Having an indoor courtyard in the middle of your house will have similar benefits to having large, glass windows. Except they obviously come with a little bit more of an indoor to outdoor escape… while still technically being indoors.

If your house décor is relatively simple then having an indoor courtyard can really be a feature element in the interior design. You have the choice to admire or actually be in contact with the nature that is present in this courtyard. Your indoor courtyard has the ability to bring in natural lighting, ventilate and cool the air around it and can even be built as a way to seperate or connect different areas of the house to increase privacy or ease movability throughout the house.

Scents

If it’s the smell of the outdoors that you love so much or if you’re wanting to add an extra level of the outdoors inside, then all you need to do is find naturally scented candles, incense sticks and sprays.

Pick the scent you love the most – lavender, forest or ocean breeze – and bring it into the different areas of your house. You could even go as far to match natural earth tones to the different scent you choose to place in each room.

Patterns and textures

A more synthetic way to bring in the aesthetic of nature inside your home is through floral patterns and textures in elements such as your cushions, bedding sets, carpets and art. Complemented by the natural tones on your walls, you can play around with the colour of your chosen patterns to personalise your interior design.

Then you can have fun with different synthetic textures that imitate those of nature. Suede, rustic walls give off a sandy effect and things like granite counters, woven rugs and engraved details are great ways for bringing in smooth and rough textures that one would find in nature.

And if that’s all a little too much for you, you can’t go wrong with a fresh bouquet of flowers.